A Few Good Men

Today I heard that a friend of mine was hurt by some harsh words. These words came from the mouths of young men around 18 years old. I feel fortunate that most of the young men I know at this age are in my Sunday School class (or recent graduates) and are very respectful and non offensive with their vocabulary.

I just don't get why young people (and even less-than-young people) feel the need to use words to hurt and feel powerful over others. To feel truly empowered you must actually give of yourself to others. I guess it doesn't make much sense to see it in words, but it makes sense to me.

The bottom line is-sticks and stones break bones, and words DO hurt. My hope is that my son can grow up to be like some of the kind young men I know from Sunday school as opposed to the punks who don't think before they speak (or act for that matter.)

I will continue to try to teach by example and raise him to remember that other girls are somebody's sister, mother, wife or daughter and they deserve the respect and care we all need.

Back from the brink.

Hello people of the internet world. How are you? "You're girl is lovely, Hubbel."

Sorry to be so nostalgic, I just think that quote from "The Way We Were" is one of the best post-break-up-meet-each-other-on-the-street-and-be-cool-about-it lines in history.

I apologize that I have been away so long. I really apologize to myself-as I wandered away from blog-land to pursue a greater endeavor of writing a novel for youth and also picture books for smaller children. I passionately dove into the work of building this world for this wonderful group of characters based roughly on you guessed it-my family.

Strike that-I'm not sorry about writing a book, but I AM sorry that I got a bad case of writer's block and haven't written much of ANYTHING in the past few months. So, I get back to my "roots" I will continue to "just keep writing" for my novel, or my children books or the play idea I came up with from a dream, or even just in my journal. I will from time to time be checking in with my internet persona. I forgot how nice (and sometimes scary) it is to know that I can write something, click a button and the whole world can see it, if they so choose.

Lord knows I can use some positive feedback considering I received my third rejection letter-which isn't what hurts. What hurts is that the editor used IMPROPER GRAMMAR in her letter. She told me "I enjoyed reading YOU story." I capitalized the word you to show what is driving me crazy. Now I know I make mistakes, but that just seems ridiculous-this is her profession. Anyways, I'll get off my high horse-or maybe just stay on it and mosey out of town....

"Happy trails to you, until we meet again..."